Finntress shorts
by cuttlefishcrossbow
Summary: Love isn't always the bombastic melody leading your life to amazingness. Sometimes it's the harmony playing softly in the background, lifting your spirits between the beats of the percussion. Short moments from a quiet love affair. T for sexual content in some chapters.
1. Hedge Clippers

_The following takes place between "Jake the Starchild" and "Temple of Mars."_

Huntress Wizard crossed the grasslands toward the treehouse with no small amount of uncertainty. Finn had told her a lot about his home since they'd been hanging out, but this was the first time he'd invited her there. What if there was some horrible secret on the inside? And why had he asked if she owned a pair of scissors?

She did, as it happened. People threw away a lot of crud in the forest, and if something was useful, she kept it. She looked down at the pair swinging from her hand-she'd done her best to scour all the rust off-and remembered that children were often told not to run with these.

Huntress smirked. She could name a hundred more dangerous things she'd had to keep track of as a little girl. The nymphs had carefully taught her each and every one.

Speaking of nymphs: some of her water sisters were splashing in a pond near the front door. They waved to her, then drew close together, whispering and giggling. Huntress rolled her eyes and knocked on the front door.

A loud series of crashes resounded from the other side. The door flew open to reveal a short green cube with arms and legs grinning up at her.

"Welcome!" it said. "I am BMO! Finn tried to answer the door, but he was subdued by my assistant."

Huntress looked up to see Finn lying in a heap at the bottom a ladder, underneath another robot that sat on tank treads. It waved. "Hello, creator's girlfriend!"

"Hey, guys." Huntress smiled. "Finn told me all about you. What's the deal here though?"

"We were afraid we would not get the chance to meet you," BMO said. "Finn is a very private person."

Huntress Wizard glanced around the large room, where gold, jewels, several swords, dozens of keys, a stack of old magazines, and three unfinished secret diaries lay in piles around the walls. "Uh-huh."

"It's true." Finn gently lifted NEPTR onto the floor and dusted himself off. "I am a complex boy of mystery."

BMO's screen flashed. "Would you like to play video games?"

"Sounds fun," Huntress said, "but I think Finn had another idea?"

"Yeah." Finn walked over, took her hand, and before Huntress could register the tingling warmth from his touch, kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks for coming over, H-dubs. It's right upstairs."

As the robots scampered outside to gossip with the water nymphs, Finn gave Huntress the tour: the kitchen, the sub-treehouse, BMO's charging room, and their observation deck. He finished up in the living room, pointing at a ladder inside a branch. "And up there is me and Jake's room."

Huntress noticed the tiniest pause before Finn said Jake's name. Her smile faded. A few weeks ago, when they'd met up to go look for the Jungle Temple, he'd told her Jake was off on a mission, and said he'd BRB. She'd tried to get more out of him, but he'd just deflected, asking her questions instead-Had she been to Wizard City lately? Did she ever get the Owl Council to drop that lawsuit? Was Forest Wizard still doing that weird thing with the bamboo?

Eventually, she'd dropped it. But she could tell he was hurting under the surface. As he and his robots had just made clear, Finn wasn't all that hard to read.

"So this is what I thought we could do today." Finn's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. He was pointing at a chair in the middle of his living room floor, with a blanket spread out underneath it, and some kind of bib folded over the back. A small rake and a pair of hedge clippers lay on the chair.

Huntress tilted her head. "You thought we could murder each other and then dispose of the evidence? How romantic."

"Nah." Finn talked a few miles per minute. "It's gonna seem kinda weird, but hear me out. So I kinda managed to get myself head lice. And usually, Jake and I cut each others' hair, but Jake's off on his mission, but I need to get this done because I'm crazy itchy and Shelby says the lice are jerks. And then I thought, hey, has H-dubs ever actually gotten a haircut before?"

"I actually haven't," Huntress said. "Yeah, let's do it. You sit first."

She felt buoyant as she gathered a comb from the bathroom and helped Finn put on the giant bib. She was new to this whole dating thing-to the whole complicated mushy feelings thing at all. What she felt when she spent time with Finn wasn't like any of the lore she'd thought was all she'd ever need to know. It was wonderful, but bizonkers confusing, and there wasn't a good map through any of it.

Knowing there was something easy she could do to distract him from missing Jake was nice. Plus, she really did want to see what she'd look like with a haircut.

"I hate having to cut this off," she remarked as she clipped the first few locks from Finn's head. "It's beautiful."

Finn turned red up to his ears. "Yeah, but it'll grow back like tomorrow. And maybe you can use it for a potion or something?"

She let that slide and kept shearing away all the hair below Finn's ears. He stayed beet-red as she ran her hands over his shoulders and neck to reach the best angles. Huntress felt a bit of flush herself. They were very close to each other.

And she was pretty good at this. Supernatural precision had its perks.

"How did you even get head lice, anyway?" she asked.

"From Marceline's place," Finn said. "She lets Simon sleep on her couch all the time. She's always like, 'it's too cold where he lives for anything to survive,' and I'm like 'girl, he has an entire civilization in his beard'.' That's true, by the way. I had to go in and save it once. Not one of my better stories."

Huntress was silent for a moment. Then she replied, "OK. What is your better story?"

"Huh?"

"You're Finn the Human. Sworn sword of the Candy Kingdom, the greatest hero in Ooo." She grinned. "So what story are you gonna tell to impress a girl?"

Finn thought for a minute, then his face lit up. "Got one. So it all started when Jake and me went looking for a new swimming hole…"

* * *

While Huntress Wizard finished cutting off the rest of his hair, Finn told the story of his encounter with the Mega Frog. He figured a story about hunting something would go over well, and it did. HW was the perfect audience: listening rapt as Finn described following the frog's footprints, laughing herself silly at his and Jake's incompetent attempts to start a fire, gasping when the Mega Frog smashed through the trees. He drew out the story, not wanting it to end, loving the feeling of her hands in his hair and her breath on the back of his neck.

But, eventually, he ran out of hair, and told of kissing Prince Huge and restoring him to normal. As he stood up from the chair, Huntress gave him one more mischievous smile that sent the blood rushing everywhere. "What?" Finn asked.

"Nothing."

"No, what?"

"With all the adventures you could have picked, you went with the one that ends with you making out with a giant frog?"

"It wasn't makeouts. It was more like…"

She laid down the scissors and comb and took a step closer to him. "Like what?"

"Like…like this." He kissed her on the forehead, just below her antlers. In answer, she kissed him on the lips, so briefly Finn couldn't be sure whether it had happened or whether it had been part of the story.

"Your turn," he managed, his voice trembling a little.

Huntress Wizard took off her cloak and hood, vanishing both with a wave of her hand. She sat down in the chair and shifted her weight as Finn put the bib around her neck. He hovered for a minute with the hedge clippers and rake, then dove in, snipping leaves and stems in her hair.

"What's your best story?" he asked. "Tons of stuff goes on in the forest that none of us ever see, right?"

"The forest is so complex," HW said. "It's more than a kingdom, it's a whole world. I navigate through it, protect it from threats, settle disputes when I have to. I love it there."

"I wanna see it all," Finn said before he could stop himself.

He couldn't see Huntress's face, but her antlers bobbed. "Someday, Finn."

Snip, snip. He was getting into a groove. If he just cut a bit there, and there…yeah! Even more beautiful than before.

"Oh, right. My story." Huntress scrunched her nose. "OK, so this one time, one of those walking whales sat in Three Carp Fountain and just refused to leave. So I get woken up by an angry carp, riding a pelican, poking me in the face…"


	2. Am I Early?

_The following takes place before and after "Seventeen."_

The main hall of the castle was bustling with activity. Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum sat in the corner watching it all, allowing herself a short rest with a cup of Peppermint Butler's famous tea. Well, "allowing" was not quite right—Jake had grabbed the tea and chair and basically ordered her to relax.

"You're stressin' everyone out," he'd said with his typical lovable bluntness. "The party looks great. Let me and Marcy handle the posters. You'll be in no shape to party if you're tuckered already."

There was a lot to be stressed out about. Ice King had refused to be dissuaded from jumping out of the cake, for one. For another, she'd been unable to invite a lot of Finn's friends due to shutting the Candy Kingdom's borders over the threat from Uncle Gumbald. For a third, there was the threat from Uncle Gumbald. Bonnibel was no closer to solving that than she was when she'd first heard he was back.

To be honest, she'd been letting Finn handle a lot more of it than she should have.

Marceline finished hanging the last banner and floated over to Bonnie's corner. The vampire queen was wearing a green dress, with her mountain of hair piled on top of her head to reveal her slender neck. Bonnie took just long enough looking her up and down for Marcy to notice.

"Party looks pretty cool," Marceline said, settling to the floor to divert attention from her blush.

"I hope so."

"You hope? You haven't, like, scienced it so there's no possible chance of lameness?"

Bonnie sighed. "I just want Finn to know we appreciate him, you know? It's been a crazy year. Sometimes we forget to tell him stuff we think he already knows."

Marceline opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, the door to the great hall creaked open. Both turned, expecting Tree Trunks with the pie—but instead of the elephant, a slender, green-eyed girl in a hood stood in the doorway.

"Hey," she said to nobody in particular. She was holding a package with a ribbon, which one of the banana guards took, shook, and handed back to her. "Am I early?"

Marceline and Bonnie exchanged a long glance.

Jake shrunk to normal size to meet her. "Nah, you're good! Just put that anywhere and come hang, Finn's on his way."

The girl took her present over to a table, looking a little out of place. "Who is that?" Bonnie whispered, setting down her tea.

"You don't know?" Marcy answered. "That's Huntress Wizard. Guardian of the sacred groves. Three-time Wizard Battle champion. She's intense."

"OK, but why's she here?"

The vampire shrugged.

Both girls looked at Jake.

With another glance between them that communicated the entire plan, the two strode forward and grabbed Jake under the armpits. Before he could protest, they'd pulled him into a side hall.

"Augh! What?" Jake babbled when Bonnie shut the door. "PB, are you evil again? Is Marcy evil again?" He looked around frantically. "Am I evil for the first time?"

"Jake, you know you're supposed to report all Finn's new girlfriends at the castle within 72 hours of the first date," the Princess admonished. "It's a matter of national security."

"And hot goss," Marceline added.

"That too. But the last one did burn down one of my client kingdoms."

Jake perked up. "Oh, is that all this is about? Yeah, Finn and Huntress Wizard are totally dating. But it's a pretty casual thing. They just hang out, fight monsters, get smoothies, maybe do a dungeon every now and then…"

"Ahhh!" Marceline jumped into the air to recline on nothing. "This is adorbs! Bonnie, isn't this adorbs?"

"I believe that's the official taxonomy." Bubblegum frowned. "But how'd it happen?"

"They did a flute duet. Then she said it wouldn't work, but then she helped him kill the Grumbo and I guess they made out after that." Jake shrugged. "He's just being really careful to get this one right. You guys shouldn't feel bad, he didn't even tell me for two weeks."

"But as his friends, we have veto power," Marcy pointed out.

"OK." Bonnie cracked a smile. "I'm commencing an official girlfriend evaluation. Pep But will handle the paperwork. Now…I guess I'd better go host."

* * *

Hours later, the party had dwindled, along with everybody's adrenaline. The whole thing had donked up beyond Bubblegum's darkest expectations, with Finn fighting off an attack from his superpowered doppelganger, followed by Gumbald barging into the castle and only barely being spooked off by Marceline. Right afterward, Marcy was angry, Finn was nauseated, Jake was upset, the banana guards were frantic, and Huntress Wizard was pulling octuple duty keeping everyone calm. Bonnie had left early to take charge of a thorough rebuking and reinforcing of the castle's defences.

When she'd gotten back, the crowd had thinned out, and the party games lay abandoned. But the scene she walked in on, considering the chaos of the party, was downright pleasant. Finn, Jake, Marceline, Huntress, Lady, BMO, Ice King, and Starchy were sitting or sprawling in a circle, playing truth or dare. Huntress had taken off her hood and was lying against Finn's knee, spinning an energy arrow in one hand.

As Bonnie shut the door, Huntress flung the arrow directly through the O on one of the "Hero" posters. Everyone whooped and clapped.

"You guys, give me a different dare next time," HW said. "This isn't even hard."

"I dare you to go out with me!" Ice King ( _Simon,_ Bonnie reminded herself) piped up.

"Starchy dares you to order him a pizza," Starchy said.

"I dare you to be greater!" BMO pumped their fists.

"All right, enough," Jake shut them all down. "It's Lady's turn."

"Are you sure?" Simon looked crestfallen. "I have a lot more truths to share. It's been a rough month."

"Yo, make room!" Marcy scooted over to let Bonnie in, but Huntress beat her to it. She stood, saying, "You can take my spot, Princess."

"You sure you have to go, H-dubs?" Finn asked.

"Yeah, I've got to meet with the foxes early tomorrow. Need to get to bed." She squeezed his hand and whispered something in his ear, then told the others,"Thanks for inviting me. This was fun."

As soon as the great hall's door shut, Bonnie called the circle to huddle close. "OK, everyone, decision time. Do we like her?"

A chorus broke out, echoing in the tall space. "She is a majestic woman!" "She'd be cooler if she was a princess." "Starchy votes no. I want my pizza."

"She's great, Finn," Marceline said. Bubblegum's heart warmed to hear the sincerity behind the words. "She can keep up with you. Plus, I know you like your ladies not afraid to throw down."

She winked at Bonnie, who felt herself turning red-and was pretty sure Finn noticed, because the human boy giggled.

"I like her too, Finn," she said quickly. "I'm really happy for you. Go forth and do this."

"Nobody's asking me what I think?" Ice King grumbled. "Nobody will ever be good enough for my best bud. Plus when all us wizards hang out, she tries to pay for everything with mushrooms."

"Sorry, Simon." Marcy floated over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You're outvoted. The girlfriend veto will not be exercised tonight."

"Wait. Veto?" Finn sat up. "What were you guys gonna do, kill her?"

Bonnie smiled widest this time. The feeling of relief that buoyed her had a lot of different parts-that her kingdom was temporarily safe, that Finn's birthday hadn't sucked as majorly as it could have, that for a few moments he'd forgotten about Fern. That they were all here. All together.

"I _might_ have made it illegal to break your heart, Finn," she said. "It's one of the perks of knowing a princess."

"That's weird, Peebs." Finn lay back on his arms. "But I'm seventeen now. I take weird things in stride."

"Hey, we're still playing!" Jake cut in. "And in case you losers forgot, we're in the lead. Lady, truth or dare?"

"He knows this isn't a game you can win, right?" Marcy murmured in Bubblegum's ear.

"Phbbbt." She shrugged. "It's a party. No rules here."

By necessity, the remaining guests slept in the castle. Everyone snored away as the full moon rose: Jake and Lady draped over each other, Marcy snoozing in one of the ceiling vaults, BMO plugged into the main hall's only outlet. Only two people didn't rest that night. Finn tossed and turned, his sleepy eyes always seeming to look out the window toward the forest. And Bubblegum, scratching notes on blueprints for the kingdom's defences, fighting insomnia with cup after cup of strong tea, checked every now and then on her friends and her hero to make sure none of them wound up any more broken during the night.


	3. Evokers

_The following takes place during "Flute Spell."_

"Listen," commanded the voice from behind him. "Shut your eyes, and reach out with your senses. Feel your thoughts flowing past like the water of the stream."

Finn was trying. He really was. But there were several things in his way.

First, his thoughts were way too awesome to ignore. He'd realized he had to ask Jake how small he could shrink and if he could find out what an atom looked like. From there he'd realized he only knew about atoms from one of PB's science lectures, which led to trying to remember anything else from those lectures, which made him remember that plate tectonics was like the world colliding with itself forever and that was way _way_ too awesome to ignore.

"Finn, you look distracted," the voice said, from much closer in front of him. Feeling some warmth close to his face, he opened one eye.

Huntress Wizard was crouched in front of him, staring for any sign of his mind wandering. He jumped, yelping, and scrambled back.

Far enough to look into her eyes and remember the other thing that was in his way. They'd spent enough time together over the last week for him to learn what that tilt of her chin, that slight widening of her eyes meant. She was amused. And trying not to show it.

 _Donk everything, man. She totally knows I like her._

It wasn't Finn's fault. He'd been trying really hard not to fall for HW. Not only was she laser-focused on the Spirit of the Forest, but…well, Finn's last relationship had been over a year ago, had lasted for 45 minutes, and had involved Lumpy Space Princess. He didn't feel at all ready to date again without blizzing himself right off the proverbial bicycle into a thornbush that represented heartbreak. Right now was Finn Time.

And yet. Huntress Wizard smelled like honeysuckle and fresh pine. Yesterday she'd told a grizzly bear to piss off because she was busy. Every word she said to him was like the freshest beat he'd ever heard.

Right now, that beat went like: "We can stop for today if you like."

"Are you sure?" Finn stood and brushed his pants off. "I don't feel like we got much evoking done."

"Awareness is like a muscle. Practice it too hard and you'll just hurt yourself."

"I guess so. I don't wanna sprain my astral soul or nothin'."

Huntress Wizard waited while Finn retrieved his flute, then strode to the edge of the river. "So long, Finn. Same place tomorrow?"

She was about to shapeshift into a fish and swim home without waiting for answer, when something strong within Finn-maybe even his grass bits-made him say, "Wait, HW. Do you wanna…I dunno, hang for a bit?"

Huntress already had some scales. She shook, and they vorped back into skin. "Huh?"

"It's just…" _I'm helping a friend. That's what heroes do. It's strictly hero biz._ "You always disappear pretty fast after we're finished every day. We've been hanging out for almost a week and I feel like I don't know you at all. I'd like to. I've never met anyone like you before."

He was proud of that. Totally chill, not romantic, unlikely to lead to any goblins getting set on fire. Now, the moment of truth…

Huntress cracked a smile. For the first time since they'd met. It would have filled Finn's soul with sunshine _if_ he'd had any feelings for HW which he absolutely didn't and furthermore never would. Because Glob dang it, it was _Finn time_ right now.

"I'm pretty sure the same's true of me, Finn," she said. "Are you hungry? There should be a gummy-apple tree around here someplace."

* * *

Huntress Wizard let Finn pick the gummy apples. Partly because he was so eager to help, partly because he looked really cute jumping between tree branches. Unlike the human, though, whose feelings could not have been more obvious if he'd shouted them, she was going to keep that last part to herself.

They had a task here. She knew all too well what happened when feelings crept in where they didn't belong. Still, she and Finn were spending an awful lot of time together, and it couldn't hurt to establish a...a courteous professional relationship. Like work buddies. That would be fine.

They took the apples to a grove under a nearby stream, where the long branches of a mustache-willow spread shade over a field of flowers. Huntress shed her hood and cloak and lay back to enjoy the cool. Why had she ever moved away?

Finn took a bite of the gummy apple, and looked pleasantly surprised at how chewy it was. His excited exclamation gave rise to a few more feelings within Huntress that were not appropriate for a work buddy.

She closed her eyes. _Discipline._

"Hey, Huntress Wizard," Finn said, "there's something I've been meaning to ask you. It's cool if you don't want to answer, I'm not sure if this'll be upsetting or anything, but I'd like to know."

"What is it?" She propped herself on one elbow.

"Well…" Finn set down his apple. "You're not a human."

HW chuckled. "What gave it away? Was it the antlers? Or the fact that this mask is part of my face?"

"That's part of your-" Finn shook his head. "Huh. That's one less thing I need to ask."

"You want to know what I am, right, Finn?"

"Yeah," the human boy said. "Like I said. You're just kinda…awesome."

 _All right, Huntress,_ she thought. _In a moment you're going to feel a blush creeping up your cheeks. That is nothing more than the natural pity of a guardian of the forest for a lost bear cub. Just so you're prepared._

Then she blushed. A hunter's foremost virtue was preparation.

"Until a year or so ago, I would have answered 'wizard,' but that's not really a species," she said. "I was raised in these woods. I'm a wood nymph. They're who brought me up. Each nymph is attached to a tree in this forest, and so am I."

"Really?" Finn asked. "Have we seen your tree yet?"

HW shook her head. "It's deep in the forest. Far deeper than we've gone. There's an ancient heart to these woods, groves that were old before the Mushroom War. That's where I grew up."

Spellbound, Finn had given up chewing on his apple. She found the words flowed easier, knowing that she'd started and he was there to listen.

"I was different when I was young. The others raised things, tended to things, but all I wanted to do was fight."

"Sounds like me."

"Yeah, we've all heard the stories." Enjoying Finn's mortified expression a bit more than was healthy, she went on. "It was the Spirit of the Forest who first went to my family and convinced them they could put my energy to work. He said the forest needed a fighter. That's when I became Huntress."

"Did you have a different name before?"

Names. What were names? The river's babble over the rocks that she was enjoying so much right now: that was its truest name. Finn's heroism was his name. One should be called by their actions.

She explained, "Nymphs get a series of names as we grow up. They grow and change with us. My real name right now would take about two hours to say, and your throat would be too sore to play that flute by the end of it."

Light through the willow played over his face. It was close enough to touch, so she did without thinking, then pulled back to run her fingers through her leaves. "Better not then," Finn managed.

"It pretty much translates to 'Huntress Wizard,' though. So that still works."

"So…the Spirit trained you?"

"Yeah. We worked together for a while, and he saw great potential in me, so he said. But I was never content to just be what other people saw. That's why I picked up magic."

"How did you learn?" Finn asked. "I was a wizard for like a day once. I wasn't super good at it. I got the dustomancy down, though."

"Yes, a solid dustomancy is the first thing most new wizards are taught." Huntress nodded. "As for me, I hunted it like I hunted anything else. Grabbed whatever magical knowledge I could find from caravans and travelers. I bought, I traded, I eavesdropped. The Spirit started getting worried. The nymphs weren't too happy either."

"Is that why you moved to Wizard City?"

They both felt it then: an uncomfortable change in the air that suggested Finn had stepped too far. Huntress Wizard shook her head. Good work friend or not, she wasn't ready to talk about that with him yet.

"I'd rather not go there right now, Finn," she said.

"Oh, sure," he replied. "I totally get it."

There followed a moment of silence that veered toward the pleasant, where all the chirpings and buzzings and wind and water converged on the warm peace the two rebuilt for each other. Neither had anything to say. Both knew they didn't want to leave.

Huntress caught Finn staring, and let him. So what? He closed his eyes when he played the flute. She'd been getting some appreciation of her own in. And they weren't at work right now anyway.

"Can you tell me what these mushrooms are?" he asked her suddenly, crawling toward the edge of the grove. "I've been missing out on the world of mushroom knowledge like my whole life."

Huntress perked up. "Oh, these are actually my favorite mushrooms!" She walked toward him on her knees. "They're super poisonous. But it's a magic poison…"

The river rolled on past the mustache-willow, long into a sunset that Finn and Huntress Wizard climbed into the canopy to watch together. It was confident the two would wise up and leave it alone eventually. It had all the time in the world.

 **Author's note: Wow! I'm really pleased at the response this has gotten so far! Good to know there are so many other people out there that this ship makes happy. I definitely have several more ideas, so you're not getting rid of me so quickly!**

 **I do want to mention that several aspects of this, including Huntress Wizard being the guardian of the forest, are directly inspired by tolliver_j_mortaelwyver's excellent "Artetris Huntress Wizard" fic which you should definitely go read right now.  
**

 **I also want to personally thank the anonymous reviewer who's leaving in-depth thoughts on every short-since I can't reply to you directly, know that your work is appreciated!**

 **Next chapter will be more (but still not very) explicit, so if you're into that, watch this space!**


	4. Behind the Waterfall

**For those that care, this is the T-rated chapter.**

 _The following takes place a few days after "Come Along With Me."_

"HW?" Finn asked at the edge of the trees. "You there?"

She was; of course she was. She'd given him her heart, hadn't she?

From the canopy, Huntress Wizard could see her hero looked worse for wear. His only surviving set of clothes was battered, he had bags under his eyes, and judging from the way he cracked his back as he waited, his bed last night had probably consisted of Jake.

She dropped to the ground and ran to him, let him fall into her arms. She'd wanted to do this the second the battle had ended, but she'd been called away too quickly: GOLB's influence had left messes all across the forest, messes it was her job to clean up. She'd promised to find Finn again. Instead he'd had to come looking for her.

"How are you doing?" she asked when they broke apart.

"Fine," Finn said, because of course he did. "It's been nice. Everyone's offered us a place to crash. PB at the castle, Marcy at her place, even Simon. He's actually moving back into the Ice Kingdom, except he's covering everything with big blankets and setting up some kinda ice hotel. Said something about 'ecotourism.' I don't understand what that guy's going on about half the time..."

He was straining under the effort of putting up a front. Huntress took both his hands. "You don't have to be fine, Finn. Losing your house sucks. I don't know what I'd do without this forest."

"I'm really fine, though," he protested. "It's just, everyone's with their person right now, and…" The warmth filled her even before he said it. "I wanted to see you."

"I'm glad you came," she said to her boyfriend, and despite the circumstances it felt approximately totally awesome. Especially when he smiled. "Wanna have an adventure?"

"Literally I want nothing else more." They passed into the trees, still holding hands, and HW didn't even care that it was slowing her way down.

* * *

"Give up your secrets, waterfall!" Finn shouted as he hopped from rock to rock toward the spray. "Don't make me yell at you a third time!"

"You are about to be disappointed, Finn." Huntress hid her smile. "I told you already, I've been back there, and there's nothing."

"HW, I know this is your forest, but every waterfall in Ooo has a secret behind it. I gotta check for myself."

Before she could stop him, Finn had bounded across the last few rocks and leapt through the veil of water. Huntress shifted to her wolf form, sprang after him, and shook hard when she landed on the other side.

She thought he'd splash her back, but when she went nymph-form again, Finn was frozen at the edge of the grotto. "Hey," she said, and touched his back. "You're soaked."

"You didn't tell me it was awesome back here," he whispered, in what passed for his inside voice.

The cave behind the waterfall was as big as a good-sized garden, with granite walls sloping up to a shaft in the roof where sunlight shone down. Luminescent blueflies danced over vernal pools full of frogs and licorice minnows. Small waterfalls cascaded down the sides of the cavern, then disappeared under the ground, where green moss spread in a lush carpet.

Finn peeled off his socks and stepped onto the springy moss. "It's soft."

She kept her hand on him as they walked. With every step, the blueflies scattered, like ripples on a pond.

Huntress realized she was breathing hard. She took his shoulder, turned him to face her.

"Finn…"

He kissed her, the melting kind of kiss, the kind where she could feel the two magnificent people they were flowing away on either side until literally nothing existed _but_ the kiss. They broke apart at the same time-listening to a signal, because it sort of felt like something else was in control now.

She'd already removed her hood, let it fall away as leaves. Gently, she lifted off Finn's hat, let his golden hair fall free.

"Do you wanna…" Finn murmured, "…take off more?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Without her cloak, her tunic, and her breeches, in just undershirt and pants, Huntress felt the warm air gently tickle her skin. Impatient, she dove in to help Finn take his shirt off.

"Wait!" he said. HW froze with his blue shirt still in her hands. "I remember Jake telling me…we should be careful. Doing this."

Huntress smiled. It wasn't at all like her to feel this off-guard. But she was enjoying it.

"I actually learned a spell for that. I hope that wasn't too much of an assumption to make."

"What spell?"

"It's like a warding spell. Protection."

Finn nodded, smiling too, but trembling a bit as well. "OK. That sounds…that sounds right."

She said a few words, sketched a rune over each of their nether regions, and the ward was finished. Clumsily, they embraced, bearing each other to the springy mossy ground in a laughing tangle. Huntress kissed him this time, enjoying all the places his hands were going. Inwardly, she thought, _yes. This is new. But I'm ready._

Outwardly, she said, "Have you ever done this before?"

"No. Have you?"

HW shook her head. "Do you know what to do?"

"I think…" Finn rolled over, pinning her, not helping the problem of her racing heart. "We just figure out what feels good, and keep doing that."

"OK." At some point her lips had parted to let out shallow breath. "I'm ready."

"I'm ready too."

They did that for a long time. And, step by fumbling step, they figured everything out. At least everything important. By the end Huntress felt it only as shards of sensation: a hawk's cry, a ripple of wind over grass, a waterfall plunging down a mountain cataract.

Neither she nor Finn were particularly quiet about it, either.

When at last they at lay together in the grass, spent, with Finn's hair spilling over Huntress's chest, she listened to the whole forest singing them a song. It sounded, for the few fragile moments they'd found, like GOLB had never come to Ooo, like everything was as it should be and always had been.

 _One moment at a time is all you can count on_ , thought Huntress Wizard as she and Finn breathed in time. But some of those moments were magic-a realer magic than she'd yet known.

 **Author's note: the first time at Tier 15 is an important moment in any teen's personal growth, and I thought these two really deserved a positive experience. And since canon didn't address it, I elected to jump in and decide for myself! This is definitely a moment a lot of people have imagined (spiderciderko's tumblr has another sweet version) but it seems like most in the fandom agree that Finn's life experiences and support system would give him a healthy attitude about sex. I also do want to mention that while many fans believe Finn's first time was with LSP in "Breezy," I don't think there's evidence that actually happened, based on** **comments from Jesse Moynihan and my own viewings.**

 **And that's all I have to say about cartoon characters losing their virginities. For now. Next one will be our first Jake POV!**


	5. The Return

_The following takes place the day after "Temple of Mars."_

Jake the Dog whistled as he spread garlic aioli on his second sandwich of the morning. He wasn't even hungry-just enjoying the freedom to eat whatever he wanted that wasn't cocktail sausages and clown cake. He'd been ready to die to save his puppies, but ready and excited were two different things, and Jake was so happy to be back he was squeezing five weeks of living into a few days.

He hadn't gotten back to the treehouse until an hour ago. Right after his brothers had brought him back to Ooo, he'd wanted to go tell Lady he was OK. Of course when she heard he'd been starving to death she wanted to feed him, so of course he insisted on cooking, and that had turned into a whole night and morning. Jake had figured Finn would understand.

Right now, Finn was slouching with one leg over the edge of the couch, playing BMO. Every now and then he'd glance over at Jake, and then, as if satisfied, look back at his game. After the third time, Jake abandoned his sandwich and informed Finn that this was giving him the heebies.

"Sorry, dude," Finn said. "Just making sure you're still real. I dunno if I trust King Man not to give me an illusory Jake and think he's helping."

Jake stretched his arm across the room to mess up Finn's hair. "Mega-real, bro. I know things are nuts right now, but I'm the one thing you don't gotta worry about."

"Cool." Finn beamed. "Oh, by the way, just so you don't freak, I had a friend over last night. She's not up yet."

"She?" Jake's ears perked up. "Over? Night? Had? Is it who I think it is?"

Finn sat up. "Who do you think it is?"

"Uh, an exceptional beast?" Jake smirked.

"Whatever, dude, she doesn't even say that anymore-"

"What don't I say?"

Finn, Jake, and BMO all turned toward the ladder. Huntress Wizard, clad in her usual green tights under one of Finn's old blue shirts, climbed three rungs down then hopped to the floor.

"Jake!" She smiled when she saw them all together. "Finn told me you were back. Do you feel all right? Any adverse effects of interstellar travel?"

"Nope, just hungry," said Jake through bites of sandwich.

HW went over to sit next to Finn afterward. "Hey."

"Hey," said Finn, while Jake analyzed their body language. _Tier 9. Spooning. Possible antler contact. More information required._

"What's the game?" Huntress asked.

" _Wizard City Ransom._ BMO, can she jump in?"

"My works are meant to be appreciated in full," said the console haughtily, but let Huntress take the second controller.

Jake tried to jerk his head as subtly as possible toward the observation boat. Finn got the hint, turned to Huntress, and asked, "Hey, I think Jake wants to talk in private. Can you keep us alive until I get back?"

"I believe I've got it." HW stared menacingly at the screen. "Punch the evildoers, right?"

"Pretty much." Finn stood. He lingered for a while as though there were something else he wanted to do, but eventually followed Jake up the two ladders.

When the brothers were seated in their shaded boat, with the whole glorious earthbound vista of the grasslands spread out before them, Jake asked, "So she stayed the night?"

"Yeah!" Finn was happy, but at the same time, Jake had this obnoxiously adult sense of loss over the time he'd missed. He and Finn hadn't been apart for that long since their parents had died and they'd moved into the treehouse together. Now his brother had spent five weeks growing up without him. He'd never get that time back.

"Then...it's kinda serious, huh? Eh?"

Finn shrugged. "Iunno. We were both fully pj'ed. She and I were just talking after you went to see Lady, and she didn't wanna leave. We gave it a try."

"What do you think?" Jake poked Finn softly with an elbow. "Really gets a hero ready for action to wake up with a lovely lady, huh?"

"Mostly I learned my bed is too small for two. She said her place next time."

Jake wiggled his eyebrows. "Next time!"

"Jake, help me." Finn suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and stared in abject fear. "This is getting into new realms. I don't wanna mess it up. What if she sees my internet history?"

"Relax, man. You haven't searched Flame Princess for like a year now."

"But what if she sees something else?"

"What else is there?"

"I'm not telling you, man, she might hear!"

"Look, bro." Jake gently pried Finn's hands off his arms, and hugged him around the shoulders. "You're gonna wanna overthink every little thing that happens. And I can't stop you. All I'm gonna say is that bein' with a lady or anyone else is about trust. Whether she's a rainicorn or a princess or a wood nymph or...I dunno, a different rainicorn...you gotta trust that she likes you for you. You like her for her, right?"

Finn nodded vigorously.

"Then there you go!"

"But what if I miss something? Or I'm supposed to do something and I don't do it?"

Jake gave Finn a squeeze and let go. "People aren't dungeons, bro. You're not gonna fall in a trap. Let love steer you right."

"People aren't dungeons," Finn repeated. "Heh. Thanks, Jake."

 _Heh indeed._ Jake smiled to himself. _Looks like I'm not too out of practice after all._

"Hey, Finn?" Huntress Wizard chose that moment to poke her head through the window. "I think I messed something up on the game. What's a secret bonus level?"

Finn whipped his head around. "You got the bonus level?"

Jake poked his brother in the side. "Go to her, Finn. Your lady needs you."

Finn nodded and scampered back down the ladder. Jake, finally feeling like the world was putting its pieces back together, sat back in the boat and watched the clouds drift across the wonderfully blue sky.

 **Author's note: Even though this is a shipping fic, there's always time for homies helping homies. I wanted to write a scene about how Jake is making room for a new important person in Finn's life, in the same way that Finn gets that Jake loving Lady and the puppies doesn't mean he loves Finn any less. I like how it turned out.**

 **Next one will explore the interim period between Flute Spell and Wild Hunt. Stay tuned!**


	6. Sadness

**TW: Depression, mental health.**

 _The following takes place a few minutes after "Wheels."_

Finn the Human was having a weirder morning than usual.

He was no stranger to waking up in odd situations while still wearing his jammies. One time he'd awoken to find Ice King had paralyzed him with a freezing potion. Another time he'd found himself the prisoner of an underground league of gnomes.

In light of that, what he had maybe-dreamed didn't seem too off. But man, was he having a hard time waking all the way up. He'd been playing his flute at a skate park, and there had been some kind of drama with Jake, Kim Kil Whan, and Jake's granddaughter, who Finn had never met before but who seemed cool. And then Jake and Lady had gone off somewhere, and Finn had decided he'd walk home, he could find the way.

Well. He'd definitely been dreaming if he'd thought that. He hadn't been this lost when he was going everywhere blindfolded.

Finn decided the best thing he could do right now would be to take a few minutes' rest to wake up. Then he could climb a tree and look for the grasslands. In the next clearing, he found a dry log, and sat down blearily.

The log changed. Suddenly Finn was sitting on something soft and warm. He yelped, and rolled backward, then leapt to his feet, fully awake now.

The log had turned into a girl, who, except for the shapeshift, didn't seem to have noticed him. This was new, as far as Finn's knowledge of logs went.

Then he noticed two other things. First, he knew that girl. Leaves for hair, antlers, a tunic that blended in with the undergrowth. _Huntress Wizard?_

Second, she was crying.

In the months since they'd said goodbye in the forest, Finn had imagined this reunion dozens of times. Their eyes meeting across a secluded woodland pool as the birds sang love songs. Her riding up to the treehouse astride a bear and confessing that she'd never stopped thinking about him. Him composing a majestic woodwind concerto inspired by their time together, premiering it at the Candy Kingdom Symphony Hall, and having Huntress Wizard show up unexpectedly on opening night. Prismo himself descending from the Time Room and declaring that it was a violation of multiversal law for them not to be together.

Et cetera. Point was, finding her weeping in a forest clearing hadn't cracked the top 20 fantasies. He had no idea what to do here.

Huntress Wizard didn't seem to have noticed him. Her tears were quiet, but relentless, as she fought to stop crying and couldn't. She needed...something. Probably not Finn. But he was the one who was here.

 _Think,_ he thought. _Imagine you got emotional intelligence, like Jake, or Marcy. Remember what everyone did for you back when Finn sword got broke._

"Hey, Huntress Wizard?" he ventured. "You OK?"

She didn't move.

"Sorry for sitting on you."

Still nothing.

"Do you want me to stay here with you? Just until it gets light?"

And from somewhere in the midst of grief, Huntress Wizard nodded.

Finn sat down on a broken washing machine embedded in the dirt on the other side of the clearing. For the first few minutes, he just watched the trees, to make sure nothing else disturbed HW. He didn't make a sound, hoping that whatever HW was going through, she could draw strength from another person's presence.

But as the sky lightened to pink and HW kept crying, Finn wished hardcore he could do more for her.

He had his flute with him. Maybe that would help: in the past she'd been able to express her feelings through music. He lifted the wooden pipe to his lips and blew a few tentative notes.

Huntress Wizard sat bolt upright. "Don't."

Finn got his first good look in months at the face that lived near the center of his imaginings. The lower green half was streaked with dirt, the upper black half puffy and raw, but the tears weren't there-as though she'd cried them out hours ago.

He dropped the flute hurriedly into the grass. "OK. That's cool."

"Music counts as magic, Finn. I can't be near magic right now. It'll make this worse."

And suddenly Finn remembered the key to this whole scene: a woman's voice, speaking sentences half-heard through ears made of bread. _Magic, madness, and sadness. All magic users swim in the loomy gloom._

How could he have imagined Huntress Wizard would be different?

"Is it your magic that's doing this?" he asked.

"This is normal." HW waved a hand. "It's fine. I expected-"

She folded in on herself before she could finish. Finn ran to her, caught her before she hit the dirt. He kept holding her, but had to get out of his awkward catching stance to sit on the ground, and so, somehow, her head ended up in his lap.

He scrambled to let her go, but she shook her head, rustling her leaves. "You said you'd stay."

"I will," he promised. "What do you need me to do?"

"Talk."

"About what?"

"Anything. I don't care. I need your voice, not your words."

So Finn talked.

At first he told the story of how he'd come to be there, of Bronwyn and the skateboard race. He'd run through what he'd been doing the last few months, mentioned his new arm and that there was a clone of him running around now. He talked about the things he knew she liked: animals and plants and the alone-places he'd found in the forest. He talked about the weather in the Fire Kingdom. Quoted random lines from Marceline's songs-taking care not to sing-and recited BMO cheat codes. At some point in the middle he confessed that he hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. As the blue dawn lightened into golden morning, then into clear day, Finn talked to Huntress Wizard about space, dimensions, the bottom of the sea, the past, the future, where his father was now, a world made of pillows he sometimes saw in his dreams, distant galaxies, death, and the time he talked to Glob.

On the other side of it all, Huntress sat up, dried her eyes, and blew her nose on a fern.

She met Finn's gaze. Something had passed through her, and passed between them before escaping out into the world.

"You did get a new arm," HW said, appraising it. "I like it."

"You do?" For the first time since he'd seen her, Finn felt himself color. "It's not too technological or nothin'?"

"Nah. It wasn't the grass arm I liked. It was the person attached to it."

"Heh. Well. You'd like Fern if you met him."

Her gaze traveled up and down him where he sat across from her. "And the rest of your outfit...?"

Finn's eyes shot open as he remembered he was in his PJs. "It's, uh, a tactical hero suit. For stealth. And camo."

"Mm." Huntress smiled. "With that and your blushing, you'll be totally invisible in the Forest of Everything is Red."

"Hey!" Finn replied. "I would never go to the Forest of Everything is Red. It's too red there."

Some birds tweeted. A deer rooted around in the undergrowth beyond the washing machine. Finn became aware that neither of them had spoken for a while.

"So." Huntress Wizard broke the silence. "Thanks for being here."

"Sure. I mean, it was no trouble...do you wanna talk about it?"

HW sighed. "That's going to require a confession from me, first. Finn, I was coming to see you."

"You, uh..." Since he'd heard her crying, Finn had tried not to think too hard about his still-powerful crush. It was very clearly not the time for that. But now that she'd brought it up... "You were?"

"Yeah. I felt bad about the way I said goodbye. Have you ever been running away from something, and not been certain exactly what it was? And then one day you realize that if you'd only stop running, that thing would stop chasing you?"

"I guess maybe?" He'd have to think about that.

"I still don't know what I was running from." She sniffed. "I know I was out on patrol when I heard your flute from the concrete wastes, and thought maybe you'd want to duet again. That was when it hit."

"The sadness?"

"The sadness." HW folded her hands in her lap and studied them closely. "When it first started, I thought it was happening because I was too soft. I was looking for an answer to it in Wizard City until I learned I wasn't going to find it there. Since I've been out here, I've been able to avoid the worst effects of MMS by synchronizing myself with the forest's natural cycles. I can hold it off for months at a time. But sometimes, when something really throws off my rhythm..."

Finn swallowed. He couldn't help feeling responsible.

"...well, you saw. I have these moments when I feel like nothing will ever be saved. Like I'll be soft forever, never good enough, never worthy. The forest will die and it's my fault. The world will die, again, and I could've stopped it if I'd been better. I know it's the magic talking. But I also don't know that at all."

She trailed off, and stared out into the morning. It was then that Finn made one of the harder decisions of his life, softened a little by having made it once before.

"Huntress Wizard, I...I think we shouldn't do what you came here to do."

"Sorry?"

"We shouldn't talk right now. About. You know. Us."

A short pause where the wind in her leaves was the only sound.

Then: "I agree," she said. "I haven't finished working on me yet. Not that you ever do. But there's an acceptable threshold I'd like to reach."

"Can I do anything until then?"

She squeezed his hand briefly. "I'd prefer if you didn't mention this the next time we meet. Yes," she noted his expression, "I hope there will be a next time. But...coming here was a mistake. I can't keep seeking you out only to run away right after." Huntress leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Finn. You won't see me again until..."

"When?" he asked, when she stopped mid-sentence.

Huntress Wizard caught his eye. "Until I'm ready for that talk. You'll know when."

She jumped up into the forest canopy. A moment later, a tree branch shaking above his head was the only clue that she'd ever been there.

Finn sat back down, heavily, on the washing machine, and took up his flute again. He had no idea what he was supposed to feel now: strong arguments could be made for happiness, grief, frustration, confusion, or several other options. It might well have been the thing Prubs had told him was called "ambiguity." She'd said it was a pretty common symptom of being sixteen.

Yet it was nothing compared to what HW had to deal with. In a clearing that was now under full sunlight, to the music of his flute, Finn resolved once again that as hard as it was, he wouldn't go looking for her. There was nothing heroic about saving somebody against their will.

 **Author's note: I didn't expect this to be the longest chapter so far, but I really wanted to explore Huntress Wizard's experiences with MMS, and how Finn might relate to those. I wanted to quickly say that I'm not intending this to be a realistic representation of depression or panic attacks-I've imagined HW sometimes suffering these debilitating episodes of bleakness that don't map onto any specific mental condition in real life. I apologize and would be happy to talk if I've upset anybody with this.**


	7. We Can Do This

_The following takes place a few hours after "The Wild Hunt."_

"So, uh...looks like everything's sorted here."

"Uh, yeah," Finn said. He dropped out of the tree, rubbing his butt where he'd been sitting on the branch.

From her perch between two boughs higher up, Huntress Wizard looked at him out of the corner of her eye. He'd been in fine form while they still had a dozen terrified Banana Guards to escort back to their barracks, but he was never as confident without someone to save. Now he was hopping from foot to foot, glancing at her and looking away again.

Huntress knew how he felt. Since the kiss - since her latest moment of boldness that might have changed the course of her entire life - this crackling energy had grown up between her and Finn, this potential for anything to happen. And she wasn't sure what to do with it. She hated that her situation could be summed up with as meager a question as _Now what?,_ but it was appropriate.

 _We both know you're totally in love with me._ She didn't say things like that. Unless she was with him - her white stag, her unexpected boy. Her Finn.

Who wasn't yet hers in any way.

A quiet night had settled over the Candy Kingdom, at odds with the Grumbo's trail of destruction. Some lights still shone - bright yellow in the Princess's laboratory, blinking red on Starchy's radio tower - but most everywhere else, the city was dark and peaceful. Jake had briefly appeared, assured everyone he was OK, and limped home to sleep. Behind HW, the forest was at peace too, even if its guardian huntress was not.

They had time now. All the time they needed. And that, despite her utter confusion, wasn't such a bad thing.

She hopped down to land at his feet. "My place?"

It was farther away, but they'd be alone there. Finn seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He nodded.

They didn't talk much for the first few minutes of the walk through the forest. Both had so much to say it was impossible to know where to begin. Finn wouldn't want to ask her where she'd been during the elemental incident, for fear it had been embarrassing; she couldn't find a tactful way to ask him where he'd gone right before the elements went out of control. In light of all that, everything else felt too small to talk about.

"I met my mom," Finn blurted out.

Huntress broke into a smile in spite of herself. "Finn, that's great. Where was she?"

"On an island way off the coast of Ooo. She's kinda downloaded herself into a bunch of robots, but..." He shrugged. "You might meet her one day. I'm hoping they come back to live here."

 _Meeting the parents._ The parents who were a brood of robots, sure, because when had anything in Finn's life been simple, but...the very introduction of something as simple as _bring them home to the family_ into their relationship broke something in Huntress Wizard. In the dead of the forest night, when only the owls were abroad, she put her hands on her knees and laughed.

"Uh, is something funny?" Finn asked.

"Only in my head." Huntress touched his shoulder. "I'm just happy you found her."

He'd wanted to know something, so he'd gone and sought it out. She'd been like that, once: eyes on the prize. She was trying to get there again. Maybe the boy beside her wasn't an obstacle to that. Maybe he was the path.

Under the canopy, it was too dark for Finn to see her moving closer. When she laced her fingers into his, he sucked in his breath.

It was very cute.

When they reached her cliff house, she held the door open for him, then motioned to the other curtain past her little creek. "Let's go in my room. The view is better."

More boldness, but Finn didn't mind. They leaned against her windowsill and looked out over the starry sky, the million trees and billion leaves of the deep forest. Her creek glimmered in the starlight as it poured over the edge of the cliff. Somewhere far below, a forest lard _glurped_ as it flopped itself from branch to branch.

"I need to know something first," Huntress said. "When we last met, you said you hadn't stopped thinking about me."

Finn blushed mightily. "You said you didn't want me to mention that."

"You can mention it if I do. All I want to know is, is that still true?"

"Listen, H-dubs, you've had the same junked-up week as the rest of us, right?"

 _You don't know the half._ But Finn talked on. "I sailed off the edge of the world, met my mom, got Susan her memories back, and when I came back here, everything was bonkers and Simon was wearing a suit. Then Jake almost died. So I definitely stopped thinking about you like several times in there."

Huntress nodded. Tried not to grin. Everything was funny right now. All her emotions had been turned up to around fourteen out of ten.

"But you always came back when it was real quiet, no matter what else I was thinking of. So I've been working on this theory. When you really like someone, they're always a part of you, right? They don't have to be your whole world. They can just be there when you need them, as long as you're there for them when they need you. Like how music doesn't go away just 'cause you're not listening."

Huntress touched the side of Finn's face, enough to turn him to look at her. "Does that sound dumb?" he said. "I was thinking of it while I was saying it."

She kissed him, softly at first and deeply, so he would shut up.

He kissed back. Hands on her waist, hers in his hair, pushing back that bearskin hat he always wore. She wasn't practiced at this. But she could put a bit of magic in it just the same.

Huntress Wizard could have sworn the moon shifted in the sky, the stars spinning around its axis, before she and Finn broke apart.

He was the first to speak. "Can we do this?"

"I don't know. Let's keep trying and see."

"I don't mean this, I mean everything. Dating and romance and meeting each other's people."

HW took a deep breath. Whether knowingly or not, he'd cut to the heart of what was worrying her. But she'd started, just tonight, to think about it differently.

"I would not have said this a week ago," she said. "Remember how I told you you'd know when I was ready to have this conversation? I was kind of lying. I meant _I'd_ know, and I hoped you'd know when I did."

"So...now you know, and you know I know you know." Finn counted it out on his fingers.

"Look." She took his hand in both of hers - of course she was going to when he left it vulnerable like that - and said, "I'm never going to be completely free of the effects of MMS. You're never going to totally forget about Fern. We can't keep waiting for things that are never going to happen before we're allowed to be happy."

She moved her hands down to his waist. "I'm happy now. I want you now. I'll figure out the rest in the morning."

"So we can do this?"

"We can do this."

They stayed there in the hollow tree, warmed by a fire HW lit, talking when they were too tired to make out, jumping each other when they ran out of things to say, until the larks replaced the owls above them, and the lards came to the creek for their morning drink.

 **Author's note: From the fact that I'm writing this story at all, you can probably guess that I love "The Wild Hunt." But I think it ended too early. What did it look like when Finn and HW made the mutual decision to stop fighting their respective crushes? Here's my answer to that question.**

 **For the next few, just like _Adventure Time_ itself did so often, I'm gonna** **try some experiments with time and perspective. I want to explore HW apart from Finn in a way the show never got the chance to, and also focus on the impact of this relationship on the other people in our lovebirds' lives. Hope you like it!**


	8. New Tenant

_The following takes place between "King's Ransom" and "Scamps."_

Huntress Wizard was careful to make sure she hadn't left anything behind. She checked the front room, her bedroom, the bathroom, even the roof where she'd spent a lot of time hanging out. Not that there was much to miss. Her remaining possessions were slung over one shoulder in a bag. Everything else she'd given away. Even now, Laser Wizard was probably dissecting her furniture for practice.

She hoped Abracadaniel got some pleasure out of the books. Huntress worried a bit about that guy.

She took one last look around, and sighed. As much as she'd been certain she wasn't going to miss the Wizard City apartment…well, no battle plan survived contact with the enemy. She was fond of the place: its rooftop garden, her bedroll, the spit she'd rigged over the fireplace, the picture window overlooking the square. Looking through it, she could see Ron James outside his shop, messing with some ingredients that were almost certainly going to blow up in his face.

 _I'm making the right choice,_ Huntress thought. But there was no such thing as an easy goodbye. Even if she'd gotten a lot of practice at leaving things.

As she turned away, someone knocked on the door. Huntress leapt back, conjuring an energy arrow in her free hand. If this was the Bufo with one last "small chore" they needed done…

"Hello?" said a voice on the other side. "Is someone here?"

She didn't recognize the voice. Huntress set down her bag, then crept forward carefully, other hand on the handle of her camp knife.

When she swung the door wide, she instantly felt silly for her overabundance of caution. The girl standing on the walk-up balcony was a little shorter than her, dressed in a sweater and skirt, with floppy ears and a horn protruding from her head. She carried a box of odds and ends in both arms.

Her eyes brightened. "Oh, you must be Huntress Wizard! I'm dreadfully sorry, I thought I'd find the place empty."

Huntress made sure to vanish her arrow, hoping the dog-girl hadn't noticed. "That's me. And you are?"

"I'm the new tenant." The girl set her box down by the front door and extended a paw. "Viola, at your service. You have a…" Her eyes swept quickly over the empty room. "A lovely home."

"Nope," said Huntress Wizard. "You do. Ya need help carrying anything?"

"It's all right, I've got it." Before HW's eyes, Viola disappeared in a rainbow flash, then quickly reappeared holding another box. "It's much too slow to go up and down those stairs, you see."

Nonetheless, supernatural agility did allow Huntress to grab one or two bags of Viola's things before all the teleporting was done. A few minutes later, a tidy pile of furnishings sat just inside the front door.

"That's impressive," Huntress said when they were both back atop the walk-up. "You're a spatial wizard, then?"

"Actually…" Viola leaned in with a conspiratorial whisper. "Truth be told, I'm not much of a wizard at all. I've moved in under Grandmaster Wizard's new rainicorn exemption. I…"

She trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable for the first time. "Actually, Huntress Wizard-"

"Huntress is fine. Or HW. Whatever's easier."

"Huntress, I don't know anybody in town yet. I'm sure you must be in a rush, but would you let me take you to lunch? I can explain it all there."

Huntress glanced out the window. The sun was high already. Finding a campsite would get harder the longer she waited, and that was the purely mundane work of the forest.

But she remembered how she'd felt when she first arrived in Wizard City: uncertain, second-guessing everything, more lost among the buildings than in the pathless woods where she'd grown up. Maybe if she'd had someone to help her then, she would have done what she needed to do sooner, instead of lingering around here for three whole years.

"Sure," she said. "There's a café down the street. Fire-Lemon fusion. Between the two of them, it actually ends up being pretty good."

* * *

Over curries and tea, Viola told Huntress how she had made her way to Wizard City. It transpired that she was an actress. Huntress could definitely see it - though unconsciously, every move and word of the girl's was studied, as though meant to be seen from a mile away. _Makes sense we'd meet,_ she thought. _I guess I've been an actress for a while too._

"I just finished up a run in the Candy Kingdom. A play called _Summer Showers,_ " Viola was saying. "And on our closing night, who should be sitting in the audience but Grandmaster Wizard? He came up to me after the show, and said he'd been looking for someone to bring the theater to Wizard City, and would I be up for the job."

"In the old amphitheater?" Huntress said around a mouthful.

"That's the one! It's quite a striking space. I've no idea how it sat unused for so long." Viola sipped her tea. "Anyway, I told him I was no wizard, but he said we rainicorns are magical enough by nature that he could grant an exception. I always thought I had more of my father's side, personally, but," she shrugged. "Here I am."

"Your father?" A pang of familiarity asserted itself in Huntress's eyes. "Sorry, I don't want to assume anything, but do you know Jake?"

Viola lit up, for a moment showing her youth through her poised exterior. "He's my dad! Do you know him?"

"Only by reputation." Huntress finished off the last of her lemon rice. "I think I saw him around here once. Not sure how he got inside."

"Really! Perhaps he'll be able to visit after all, then. Grandmaster said my brothers and sisters can get guest visas. There's five of us in all," she added. "You know, my father actually helped me land the job. He's a friend of…I believe his name is Ice King?"

"Ice King vouched for you? That's surprising." HW was not a fan of Ice King. Hardly anybody was, and they didn't have to endure his clumsy pickup lines. That was definitely something she would not miss.

She was still thinking about that when Viola asked, "So, why did you decide to move away?"

Huntress sighed. She'd done everything in her power to keep Viola talking about herself. The truth was, it was easier to face this stuff when it wasn't being said aloud. People called her quiet, reserved, standoffish even, but she just liked to keep things on the inside that belonged inside.

If she didn't talk about it, she could go back to the forest with Wizard City nothing more than a hazy dream. But Viola had paid, and she didn't want to be rude.

"I was born in the forest," she said. "The wood nymphs raised me until I was fifteen, when I won my first Wizard Battle."

"Goodness!" Viola's big eyes widened. "You must be awfully talented."

"I was lucky," Huntress replied. "And then I wasn't. We nymphs don't usually take to magic, you see. At least not," she waved her arms in an all-encompassing gesture, "not this kind of magic. We have older, subtler spells, ones that take ages to weave. I'm considered something of a black sheep back home."

Viola said nothing, riveted on the story. Huntress continued. "This is the hard part to explain, but evocation magic…tends to affect the brain. Almost in proportion with its power. Just look at Ice King if you don't believe me."

"Oh, my." Viola set down her tea.

"After I won Wizard Battle, I was offered scholarships and sponsorships. But all I really wanted was…" _There's no good way to phrase this._ "…was a cure to the sadness. The feeling of vulnerability, of softness. I came to Wizard City to see if I could find it. And I did, for a while. But a year or so ago, right around the Bella Noche incident, I started to fear that - that I'd traded away some of myself for a temporary respite."

Without speaking, Viola reached out and covered Huntress's hand with her own.

"It took me a long time to decide. But I've realized that the key to finding myself again is to get back out where things are hard. I need to go back to the forest so I can remind myself what matters in this world. Maybe then…I can get back to looking straight ahead."

Viola squeezed Huntress's hand and let go. "I'm deeply sorry," she said. "It seems as though you've made the right decision, though. It is…it is vitally important to know what one wants in this world."

Huntress smiled. "Hey, I'm just glad it led to you getting a nice apartment."

She suddenly remembered why she had agreed to this lunch, and sat up straight, folding her hands. "About that. There are some things you'll need to know."

To her surprise, Viola pulled out a small notebook, and sat waiting with a pencil hovering over the page.

"Never under any circumstances allow the Bufo inside. You'll find yourself stuck with a magical contract to do all their housework. Ron James stocks the best potions, but don't buy anything he mixed himself. Wholesale only. The secret societies have a membership fair at the start of autumn-sign up for more than you think you're going to join, you can always quit the mailing list later. If you can stand to, try and hang out with Abracadaniel once or twice, he needs friends other than Ice King. And…" She hesitated only a moment before plowing ahead. "If you need anything while you're getting started, send me a bird. They all know how to find me."

When Viola finished scratching everything into her notebook, she stood, and pushed back her chair. "I should begin moving in, I suppose," she said. "And you seem to need to get going as well."

"I've been away a long time," Huntress said. "I need to start by spending time in meditation. Listening to all the things I've lost."

"I think you'll do fine out there." Viola smiled, and before Huntress could react, pulled her into a brief hug. "You're an exceptional beast, Huntress Wizard. Do stay in touch."

"Exceptional beast," Huntress said to herself, as she waved at the dog-girl from the front door of the café. "I might have to steal that."

And, shouldering her small bag of essentials, she set off toward the exit from the city, and her long, winding path back home.

 **Author's note: As I mentioned, I really wanted to explore Huntress Wizard's mindset in a scene that didn't involve Finn at all. But I still needed someone for her to play off of, and as luck would have it, that gave me a chance to include one of my other favorite underused characters, Viola Dog-Rainicorn!**

 **If I have one complaint about late-season _Adventure Time,_ it's the way the pups were handled (if I have two, it's that Finn and Marceline pretty much stopped directly interacting after season four, but that's for another time). I understand why they did the rapid aging, but I'll never get why a surly businessman and a basement-dweller got more screen time than an actress, a master criminal voiced by Mabel Pines, and an occultist who lives in a pyramid and can grow to the size of a planet at will. But I guess that's what fanfic is for!**

 **Next one will go even farther afield, but don't worry, I still have plenty of ideas for the Finntress goodness that you all came here for. Stick around!**


	9. Raptermath

_The following takes place a few minutes after "Son of Rap Bear," and several weeks after "Come Along With Me."_

Phoebe, the Flame Princess, could not have said exactly what was going on for the first few minutes after she saved her kingdom at RapFestAid. She was shouting, Finn was shouting, Toronto was blathering about something. Jake and Cinnamon Bun hoisted her up above the crowd and surfed her to safety just outside the arena, where a party was already starting, seemingly of its own accord. An admiring mob of her flame people surrounded her, and some of the bears even joined in.

Phoebe started a bonfire with wood Finn gathered, which made everyone cheer even more. For a bit she indulged the people asking her to freestyle on whatever topic just came to their head - sandwiches, mortality, scooters - but ended up waving people off.

"Is Son of Rap Bear gonna be ok?" she asked Finn in a quiet moment, while Cinnamon Bun told a pack of rowdy flamelings that she was exhausted. "I feel kinda bad about blowing his legs off."

"Don't worry about it," Finn said. "Their species actually grows their legs back after a few days. They just like to be dramatic."

The party was in full swing now between the arena and the woods, with people who hadn't even been at RapFestAid showing up - FP was pretty sure nobody had invited Lumpy Space Princess. She glanced at Finn, caught his eyes…

…and was struck by the fact that something she was used to seeing in there was gone. He was happy, sure. Definitely proud. And enjoying her company.

And nothing else.

Phoebe made an excuse and dashed off, but collided with Cinnamon Bun. "Princess, Flambo was looking for you," said her loyal knight. "Something about how the money from this was supposed to go to charity?"

"Give half to Green Wood Syndrome research and use the other half for the new Fire Kingdom At-Risk Youth Center," she said quickly. "Randy has the blueprints."

She needed air. A fire starved of oxygen was not going to be comfortable. But someone was everywhere she turned - Slime Princess wanting rapping tips, Jake asking if she was OK, her father existing - until finally Phoebe saw an opening in the crowd and bolted into the forest.

She sat down on the wettest log she could find. Smoke from her rear mingled with the smoke pouring from her eyes. What the donk was wrong with her? This should have been the best night of her life. Why couldn't she be happy for once?

She had to get her emotions under control. Her dad in the crowd, nearly losing her kingdom, hanging out with Finn for the first time since hearing about his new girlfriend…it had just overwhelmed her. Now it burned away all at once, leaving nothing but a smoky emptiness.

"Hey," someone said. "Is this log taken?"

"Huh?" Phoebe rubbed her eyes. She knew that voice. It wasn't exactly who she would have picked to come find her, but she wouldn't have picked anyone if she'd been consulted.

"I'm gonna sit, look out," said Lumpy Space Princess, and settled down just a couple inches above the log. "Heard you had some pretty fresh flows back there. Why you skipping out on the afterparty?"

"It's cool, LSP, I'll be back in a minute," Phoebe said. "I'm just taking a breather. It's kind of a lot over there right now."

"Girl, you keep a bunch of crazy fire guys in line every day. What's so tough about a-"

LSP broke off. She followed Phoebe's gaze to where Finn was roasting marshmallows using his metal arm. " _Ohhhhh,_ " she said.

Phoebe's head flared. "If you tell _anyone-_ "

LSP covered her face. "Even-"

" _Turtle Princess counts!"_

"OK, OK! Glob, Phoebe! I don't just barf out all the gossip the second I hear it!" LSP folded her arms and glared as Phoebe took a few breaths to return to normal. "I'm a curator of sweet choice information. You still liking Finn is more sad than juicy right now."

"I don't still like him." Phoebe went back to propping herself on her knees, wondering why she was telling Lumpy Space Princess any of this. "It's more like he's my dictionary definition of a boyfriend. I've never had feelings for anyone else. So when I want _somebody,_ it turns into wanting Finn."

LSP settled lower. "What about Cinnamon Bun?"

"That's what I keep thinking. It would be so easy. But…" Phoebe shook her head. "You can't make yourself feel something you don't feel. He's so nice, and loyal, and dependable. If I said I wanted to be with him, it would just be rewarding him for that. Which is gross. Not to mention insulting."

"Whatever." LSP shrugged.

Phoebe smirked up at the floating princess. "You're welcome to make a move if you want."

"Uh-uh, girl. I'm working on a man-project of my own. A sour jigsaw puzzle I'm puttin' together one piece at a time."

"Is it the Earl of Lemongrab?"

"What? No."

"You just said sour-"

" _We're talking about you!"_ LSP huffed. She put an arm around Phoebe that felt like a half-stuffed pillow. "I know how it feels to catch it bad for Finn the Human. Believe me, I've taken my ride on those heroic lumps too."

"I always wondered," Phoebe shifted a little away from LSP, "did you guys…?"

"Ugh, no. We made out for like two seconds and then he dumped me for a bee. Worst night of my life."

Something haunted, and entirely unexpected, came over LSP's face then. "Maybe second-worst."

"Huh?"

"I dunno." LSP shook her whole body. "Not sure why I said that. The point is, A, I heard you guys broke up for a super good reason, and B, there is another tranch pleasing those man-lumps now."

"Bleh, I know, I've met her." Phoebe stuck her tongue out. "And she's soooo cool. I was like, I need you to be balls so I can feel better!"

Both of them laughed. Phoebe said, "I _did_ dump Finn, and I _would_ do it again. He blew his chance and it would be a bad idea. This is only…"

"Only what?" LSP hugged her tighter, reminding Phoebe she was immune to all her fire powers. "Let it all out, Flame Princess. You'll feel better."

Phoebe doubted she would, but she was past the point of caring where LSP was going to spread this gossip. She wiped smoke from her eyes again and tried a smile that turned into a gasp.

"You always gotta want what you can't have," she said. "My life is great right now. My people adore me. My dad's finally settled down. Relations with Candy and Slime have never been closer. I have great friends and I feel like I'm finally making up for all that time I lost in the lantern. And yet…I keep looking around and thinking everyone's got someone but me. Finn has Huntress Wizard. Jake has Lady. You have Lemongrab-"

"Oh my _Glob_ , I do _not_ -"

"-PB has Marceline, Slime Princess has Slime Hunk…I guess my dating options are CB and Ice King."

"OK, we can all agree that Slime Hunk is an absolute snack of water," LSP said, "and I think I know what you need. The best way to get over somebody is to get under somebody else."

Phoebe raised an eyebrow. "Is that from J.T. Doggzone?"

"Maybe! Why are you always accusing me of stuff?" LSP glowered, but helped Phoebe to her feet. "You just go party for now. Look hot and make Finn jealous. Let LSP be your love doctor."

 _There is absolutely no way this won't turn out horribly,_ Phoebe thought as she headed back to the party, to a fresh round of cheers. But the advice to have fun wasn't bad, at least. With a deep breath, she accepted a marshmallow from Finn, reflecting that, all told, it was a good idea not to judge your life by a relationship you had when you were fifteen. Much better to live in the now. _It's what he would do._

* * *

So Flame Princess continued ruling her kingdom. She presided over that year's Princess Day, finished the At-Risk Youth Center, and sent forces to support the Candy Kingdom in their battle against the upstart Gumbald. And when Finn and Jake crashed on her couch for a week after that battle destroyed their house, it wasn't even weird.

It came to pass that one day, strolling through the Candy Kingdom after leaving PB's place, Phoebe found herself without anything in particular to do. She could get a slice at Sassy's, or go see if anyone was singing down at the Candy Tavern, but she was in much more of a mood to just walk.

The night air was cool, and nice against her embers. She admired the murals of Banana Guard 16, paused to pay her respects at the statue of Billy, and waved to Jake Jr., who hastily shoved something in her pocket and waved back.

Phoebe felt totally at peace. What could go wrong on a night like tonight?

Right then she bumped into a figure stealing out of an alleyway. Phoebe leapt back, shifting into a fighting stance, and flared all her flames at once. "Watch where you're going!"

"Hey!" shouted a barely-familiar voice. "Don't burn me, I'm a friend!"

Phoebe turned her flames down-then, when she saw who it was, turned them right back up. A lanky, pink-skinned figure in a neckerchief stood before her, hands defensively raised: Princess Bubblegum's cousin, Chicle.

"What are you doing sneaking around my allied kingdom?" Phoebe shouted.

"I'm not sneaking, I'm sightseeing!"

"Tell me why I shouldn't call the Princess and have you thrown in the dungeon."

"I'm going to, if you listen for a second!" Chicle stared hard at her and waited for her to turn her flames back to normal. She did, cautiously, but didn't get off the balls of her feet. "Gumbald tricked me into helping him. When we first healed, he told Lolly and me that Bonnibel had poisoned us, but it was him all along."

That gave Phoebe pause. Bonnie and Lolly worked together now, after all. But one thing didn't make sense. "I thought you were…"

"…still an inbred little snack?" Chicle's face fell. "I liked what I did to help Gumbald. I deserved another couple centuries as Crunchy for that. But I got a stay of execution. The Lumpy elemental decided to set me free once more."

"Why?"

"She said I'd know my mission when I saw it."

A horrible realization stole over Phoebe. _LSP cannot possibly be serious._

Then she took the time to look at Chicle - really, for the first time. He wasn't bad-looking, in a cocky sort of way, and he seemed genuinely sincere.

"You know," Chicle was suddenly blushing furiously, "I've actually never been here on my own before. Would you maybe be willing to…"

"…show you around?" Phoebe said a bit quickly. "If you want."

"Thanks," Chicle said. "It's way better visiting as an ally. The Banana Guards still look at me suspiciously, though."

"Don't worry about them, they're just eager." The two set off walking, settling into an easy gait. "Although there is one who paints these awesome murals…"

Neither of them noticed the other figure hiding in the alleyway, floating three feet off the ground and snickering. "LSP," she said in her inside voice. "Love doctor."

 **Author's note: I really like Flame Princess, even though I don't ship her with Finn. From her very first appearance, she brings an awesome energy and shift in tone to every episode she's in. So, while keeping canon totally intact as I've sworn to do, I thought it might be cool to explore how Finn's new love with Huntress Wizard affected his, ahem, old flame. After all, what's Adventure Time without deep dives into the psyches of secondary and tertiary characters?**

 **This led me to propose what is, to my knowledge, a totally original ship for this fandom (though please LMK if I'm wrong). If I have more ideas, I might very well write a Phoecle spinoff to this whole thing. For the next one, though, it's time to get back to H-dubs and Finn, with one of the scenes fans have been talking a lot about since the end of the show. Thank you so much for reading this far!**


	10. Give Hugs

_The following takes place several weeks after "Come Along With Me."_

The Sugar Apes surrounded both ends of the mountain pass, cutting off any escape. Huntress Wizard conjured two arrows. "What's the plan?" she asked.

"I'm gonna beat up those three." Finn pointed. "And I'm gonna make that one cry, and kick that one in the face until he agrees to stop stealing people's houses."

"Solid plan." HW nodded. "I did want to remind you of something, though."

"Oh, yeah! And we can try the thing. I'll give the signal."

At a howl from one of the apes, they all charged.

Finn bellowed a war cry and slashed through two in one blow, scattering sugar cubes over the gravel path. From behind, he heard Huntress Wizard shout, "Finn, 9 o'clock!"

Right at his left side, a Sugar Ape swung a candy cane at his head. Finn parried with the flat of his Nightosphere sword and shattered the cane. But three more apes charged as that one fell back.

"HW, now!" Finn called.

Whirling like a top, Huntress stabbed one ape through its crystalline white chest with an arrow and formed another arrow in her off-hand. She hurled it toward Finn. At the last second, Finn leapt into the air, letting the energy from her shot lift him higher. He kicked out in two directions, striking crunchy Sugar Ape faces with both feet. One went down right away.

Flashes and grunts from behind him told him HW had knocked out the rest. The last ape facing Finn howled and made to run back up the pass.

"No you don't!" Finn caught it around the waist from behind, bore it to the ground, then leapt up and kicked its face. "Stop stealing villagers' houses, you big jerk! It's unjust!"

"Ow! OK!" the Sugar Ape whimpered. "We'll leave the village alone! Just stop kicking me in the face!"

Finn folded his arms. "That is satisfactory. Go, and jerk no more."

Grumbling, the Sugar Apes filed out of the upper end of the pass. HW caught up with Finn at the lower exit. "You good?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she smiled. Or not _smiled,_ necessarily. More like a crooked smirk that set Finn's guts and groin quivering. "You?"

"I'm awesome! That arrow trick worked better than it ever did when we practiced."

"Oh, believe me, I was watching." Huntress pointed to a shady grove of tall beeches at the bottom of the pass. "Want to take a break?"

She was kissing him before he'd had a chance to sit down. Finn yielded to it, to her touch and the intensity of her sweetness, sliding his hands under her tunic. They fumbled their way to a soft patch of grass behind a bush. Huntress had the warding spell cast almost before they landed on the ground.

When they'd finished, and enjoyed a long and perfect silence resting on one another, Finn kissed her in the middle of her bare chest and said, "You know, we could do that indoors one of these days."

She wriggled closer to him, making him forget he was exhausted. "Crazy talk."

The sun's rays shone slantwise through the leaves of the beech grove. Blink-flies and leaf dragons buzzed about. Huntress Wizard lay with her eyes half-closed, her lips a bit parted, as though communing with the grass and wind.

It was mad cute.

Suddenly she opened one eye. "Your heart rate is accelerating, Finn. Are you proposing another round?"

 _No,_ Finn thought, _but I feel like I'm proposing something._ He'd been meaning to find time to bring this up.

"Actually, H-dubs, I had something important to ask you."

She sat up and began drawing leaves over herself. "I will propose a policy that we have all important conversations with our pants on."

"Reasonable." Finn worked his way back into his jeans. "Remember how I said I met my mom?"

"Yeah. And she's on an island way off the coast of Ooo."

"Well...she's not anymore. Just the other day we found Susan and Frieda on the south coast. My mom sent them ahead to announce that the humans had decided to move back to Ooo. They'll be landing soon."

"Oh."

Huntress Wizard had finished her leggings and tunic, and paused to stare at Finn, who had just finished pulling his shirt over his head.

"And I wanted you to come and meet her. And the others like me. If that's..." He suddenly felt apprehensive. "Something you'd wanna do?"

They looked at each other. HW swallowed. Finn had the sense of a gulf growing between them, shallow but wide, against his will and out of his control.

"I, um, just remembered I have some nymph business. In the deep forest." She squeezed his hand, leaving behind the faint trace of an apology. "I'll catch up with you later, Finn. Do you have a place to stay tonight?"

"Yeah," Finn said, bewildered. "I'm gonna camp with Jake and Susan and wait for the boat. You can come anytime if you change your mind. They're landing southwest of the Candy Kingdom."

"All right." She looked at him a moment longer, as though trying to figure out another way to express something, but then sprang up into the trees to race along the ridgeline without another word.

Finn gathered up his hat, sword, and backpack. He settled his shoulders, waited for a while longer, then turned to start the long walk to the beach.

A few years ago-Glob, a few _weeks_ ago-he would have been paralyzed with nerves after getting a non-answer like that. But he'd been with Huntress Wizard long enough to know that there were things in her head she had to deal with on her own. She was a warrior inside and out, and her battles didn't stop very often. Part of loving HW was knowing which Sugar Apes were outside and which were inside, and listening to whether or not she asked for help.

He'd gone about a mile before he realized he'd said _loving_ in his internal monologue. _Huh. Didn't think I still knew how to blush._

* * *

Huntress Wizard fumed at herself as she leapt from branch to branch, heading back toward her clifftop. What made her keep putting obstacles in her own path like this? In what way was this easier than just letting herself be loved? Finn had just asked her to meet his mother. It wasn't like he'd asked for her hand in marriage.

But as she climbed - as she burst out over a view of the gold-flecked forest canopy, with the birds winging their way homeward like shimmering curtains over the sunset - her fire began to cool.

This was, after all, known behavior for her.

She settled on a branch and sighed, half in exasperation and half in relief. She was pretty confident by now that she wasn't under the influence of wayward magic sadness. No, it was her hunter's instincts messing with her this time: if danger, then dodge. In battle, waiting for more information could mean death.

"Love," she said aloud, for nobody's benefit but her own, "is weird." She didn't have any other hobbies where being in harm's way was the entire point.

* * *

Frieda was the first one to spot the ship. "There, look! On the horizon!"

Finn leapt to his feet. "Jake, be a telescope!"

"Man, you know I can't become a convex refractive surface," Jake groused. He stretched up a few stories instead for a better look. "Yeah, that's your mom all right, coming in hot!"

"What did I miss?" Susan raced across the sand to join the others. Frieda hopped up and down beside her. "They're here!"

Finn struck a match and shot the flare up into the sky. They had company of their own coming.

Soon, the familiar human vessel appeared over the horizon. Everything was a whirl of happy chaos as the great ship banked parallel to the beach and dropped its heavy anchor chains. While humans - _real humans,_ Finn thought, his heart soaring like a helium balloon - vaulted over the rails to haul the ship the rest of the way, PB and Marceline approached from the other direction, trailed by a capering mob of candy people. Simon brought up the rear, carrying BMO on his shoulder and Neptr under his other arm.

When the humans had finished dry-docking their ship, a moment of awkward silence followed. Humans, candy, robots, and vampires sized each other up on both sides.

Bubblegum cleared her throat. "On behalf of the entire Candy Kingdom, I, Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum, extend an official, formal, serious welcome to-"

"Mom!" Finn exclaimed.

Several of Minerva Campbell's robot bodies had joined the crowd on the shore. Finn picked out one of them and ran toward it. Above, the great screen that housed his mother's main consciousness smiled wide.

Helper #82 and Finn squeezed each other tightly. They really were amazing creations, he thought: as warm as real humans. It was enough to make him feel, for a second, like he'd never lost anything or anyone.

The screen's voice came out of the helper robot, for all the world as though it were an ordinary person down on the shore with them. "Well, aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"Yeah!" Finn said. "So, you remember Jake."

"Of course!" #82 beamed.

"And this is Princess Bubblegum."

Bubblegum bowed. "We've prepared a settlement where you and your people can get started. You can go ahead and ignore any tall security fences anyone might be building around it for now."

"Aaand cancel the fence." Marceline floated in front of PB and held out her hand. "'Sup, Finn's mom. I'm responsible for everything about him that's cool."

"Hide the fence," Bubblegum whispered to Starchy, who hefted his shovel and ran off.

"It's lovely to meet you all," Minerva said, this time from the ship so everyone could hear it. "I've seen so much about you in my son's memories."

"That's, uh," Finn turned red, "That's not as creepy as it sounds."

"It's exactly as creepy as it sounds." Jake crossed his arms.

"Helper #82," Minerva commanded, "give hugs!"

And give hugs the Helper robot did, greeting dozens of Ooofolk while the other humans and non-humans mingled. BMO and Neptr oohed and aahed over the construction of all the Helpers' various robot bits. Simon, in a moment that bore absolutely no thinking about on Finn's part whatsoever, tripped over his words and stammered when Minerva shook his hand. #82 was even able to switch its language settings to converse with Lady Rainicorn in perfect Korean.

"And, uh...I guess that's everybody," Finn said, rubbing one arm with the other after what felt like hours of introductions. The humans were getting along splendidly with everyone by now - some joining Susan to teach the candy people some traditional Two Bread Tom songs, others learning to play Card Wars from BMO. Only his mom, as #82, seemed unable to join in the good feelings, instead looking sidelong at Finn with a concerned expression.

"Well." Finn took a deep breath. "Gotta get you all to your huts, right? Start you up making fire and learning how to adventure."

"Finn, it's all right," Minerva said suddenly. "She's got her own reasons for not being here."

"Oh, I know - wait. What?"

Then the forest behind them shook.

A massive shape leapt over them, casting human and robot in shadow. Finn sprang up, Nightosphere blade in hand. "Mom, get behind me. This is pretty normal Ooo stuff."

"I should say so."

He looked back. Was Helper #82-was his mother grinning?

The bird touched down in front of them, digging a trench in the sand with its haphazard landing. By the time it had stopped, a girl was lying there in its place.

"HW!" Finn sheathed his sword. Had something terrible happened?

But Huntress Wizard sprang up without needing Finn's help-unharmed, unperturbed, and only a little out of breath.

As Finn was getting used to, everyone stared at everyone else.

"Mom," he said carefully, "this is Huntress Wizard. She's my, um..."

HW shot Finn a quick, understanding glance, one that said she knew she had never been very clear on what she wanted them to be.

"I'm his girlfriend," she said. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Then she stepped forward and hugged Helper #82 before the central Minerva could give the order.

"You could tell," Finn accused his mom, aware he was now grinning too.

"Finn, I'm inhabiting the most advanced machine ever created for monitoring vital signs." Helper #82 patted his shoulder. "And the two of you are not exactly subtle people."

Finn felt HW's arm slide around his waist. "You're a bit subtle," he whispered in her ear.

"I'm a nymph," she whispered back. "Different vital signs. The forest hides some of its feelings. But the other ones are as obvious as the wind."

They turned away a bit from Minerva, who was answering a question from Bubblegum. Huntress Wizard studied the ground. "Sorry for not being here earlier."

Finn kissed her on the top of her head. "Thanks for being here now."

"Hey, look!" Jake shouted joyfully from somewhere overhead. "I figured out how to become a convex refractive surface!"

Lady was holding him up to the sun, focusing light on a pile of wood the humans and candy people had gathered on the shore. A bonfire sprang up almost right away. Marceline produced an acoustic guitar from somewhere in her inventory, NEPTR doled out pies, and at some point the switch flipped from "we should get going" to "this party will continue indefinitely."

Finn was full. He had no other word to describe it. Full of the night and of love and of the sense of coming home.

* * *

Some time later, they lay on the beach in a daze, HW's head resting on Finn's stomach. She'd woken up after a pleasant dream she could hardly remember, and blearily checked for threats. There weren't any.

Someone was playing with her hair. Finn was awake, too. His touch helped her recall the dream she'd been muddling through.

"Hey, Finn. I've decided something."

"Hm?"

"It's time." She gulped. "I...I want you to see my tree."

His eyes opened wide. No sleep on them now. "Are you sure?"

"Totally sure. We leave at dawn."

The smile on his face then reminded her once more that love was only as weird as lovers made it.


	11. Winterspell

_The following takes place during "Winter Light" and "Skyhooks II."_

Glob, it was so cold.

Huntress Wizard had thought she'd been cold before. On long runs into the Ice Kingdom for caribou, wrapped in only a hide. At night in the wastelands, when the sun dipped below the horizon and the temperature dropped forty degrees in a quarter-hour. On the floor of her room, the night after her first Wizard Battle, rocking back and forth from spell withdrawal.

None of it compared to this.

She'd had plenty of time to think about how this had happened to her, and why, but she had few ideas so far. One minute, she'd been heading to the Ice Kingdom border to investigate rumors of the snow line expanding south. The next, she was frozen in a block of ice, in an Ice Kingdom that looked nothing like how she remembered it.

Sure, the Ice Kingdom had never been the friendliest place. But it had at least been _alive_. Lumbering snow golems, questing fire pups, chattering penguins. This was more like some freaky sculpture garden. And Huntress Wizard was one of the statues.

At first, when the change had come over her, she'd panicked. Her limbs and her voice had gone solid all at once. She could do nothing at all to deal with the gnawing, horrifying absence of motion that she'd suddenly become - still conscious, still fighting, for nothing.

HW wasn't a screamer. But she'd definitely considered giving it a shot.

She didn't know how long she'd waited like that, her soul shoving its way through the bottleneck of panic. The sun was no longer moving in the sky: she felt a creeping fear that Ooo didn't have days and nights anymore. She should have been able to feel them through her tree, but it seemed like it too was inside the ice line.

Eventually, HW's panic had melted away, replaced by something cold and practical. And familiar. The kind of thinking that had saved her before.

This magical effect had come on without warning. It was something imposed on the world, and so there must also be a way of removing it. But whatever it was, she wouldn't be a part of it. Huntress Wizard was a prisoner of war. Her first duty was escape. Her second was to keep up her morale.

Escaping might have been easier. Being frozen like this took the recurring drumbeat of her thoughts and amplified it ten-thousandfold. She should have been better. Should have practiced harder. Could have foreseen this, prevented it even, if she'd been stronger. All that time she'd wasted on sadness, on holding back because of some dumb connection to the forest or whatever - all a mistake. People needed to focus on one thing only, or they'd never make a difference at all.

That thought was her company for Glob knew how long. Shame almost became a comfort, warming her when nothing else would.

 _How cold,_ Huntress Wizard thought, _can a person get without dying?_

 _At least I'll get to know how it feels to go a different kind of crazy._

Sometimes, she even watched the landscape, though that was a last resort: it was mad boring. Until the moment it wasn't.

Footsteps crunched over the snow. Somebody was here.

HW knew, theoretically, that she couldn't turn her head to look. But she still ground up against a ton of frustration trying to see who it was. It was something different. A lifeline to grab onto out of the toxic cycle of regret and panic she was chilling with right now.

 _Chilling. Hah. Now I know I'm going nuts. I don't pun._

The visitor was crossing a ridge opposite her, too far away to notice her among the field of unbroken white. She noticed him, though, when he finally walked in front of the direction her head was frozen in.

It was Finn, with Jake on his heels. Of course it was. Because what she really needed right now was more reminders of different ways she'd failed.

Huntress Wizard screwed up all her courage. She would _not_ beg. Number one, it wouldn't do anything, and number two, in no situation would she ever demand or expect this boy to save her.

She managed not to try and scream anything. And kept managing, until Finn and Jake vanished over a far hill, heading for what had once been the Ice King's palace.

She and Finn hadn't spoken since he'd found her crying in the forest, in the throes of a deep magical funk. Back then, she'd said that when she was ready to see him again, she'd find him. Well, she'd found him. And she wasn't ready. Maybe never would be.

What if she never got out of here?

HW had that thought about once an hour, and after a few days, it was making her convulse with silent terror just _slightly_ less. She was magic, after all. A wizard could deal with anything if you gave her enough time to think. And a tree had functionally unlimited time.

But now that she'd been reminded of Finn, of everything he meant - everything he meant _to her_ \- that little space where the terror was receding had been filled up by grief. All of a sudden, it was no longer clear that pruning all the weakness from her life would have helped her at all.

What could they have had? If she'd run after him the day they cast the flute spell, or the morning they'd met again, where would she be now? Maybe she could have gone with him on the journey to find his birthplace, and avoided getting stuck in this mess. Maybe she'd be with him now, fighting by his side to undonk Ooo from the elemental takeover.

Yet deep in her oaken heart, Huntress Wizard knew that life had only ever been a dying dream. The truth was: a love with Finn hadn't been awaiting her. She would have needed to look to the side instead of straight ahead. To accept change instead of frozen stillness, in the world and in herself.

She'd never been bad at moving straight ahead. She was the _best_ at it. And it had brought her here.

If she got out of here-on the chance, however unlikely, that she still _could_ get out of here-HW vowed that she'd see the world differently. She'd let things have curves and tangles. Nature had no straight lines anyway. And she'd see how the world looked out of the corners of her eyes. Notice the changes in peace. In happiness.

In love.

Though she still couldn't move, Huntress Wizard imagined the briefest of thaws, just enough for her to relax.

#

Much later, Finn himself would tell her the full story of everything that had happened between the moment HW saw him and the blessed hour she finally thawed out. He'd been right at the middle of everything, which somehow didn't surprise her.

"It was...messed up," he said, squeezing her hand. "Not the worst time in my life, but pretty close."

"I understand," she replied, and told Finn how close she herself had been to giving up.

That didn't happen the day the crisis ended, though. When the Ice Elemental had gone to ground and she had found herself free to move, she'd run full-tilt all the way to the Grasslands in an achey frenzy of regret and hope. But when she'd gotten there, when she'd seen everybody else who had made it there first, she'd realized she wasn't yet ready.

Instead, she waited in the circle of well-wishers, ending up near Bubblegum and Flame Princess (the significance of that moment was not lost on her). Today was a day to celebrate Ooo as it was: chaotic, mad, but stably so. Finn himself looked totally drained. She would talk to him tomorrow.

And if not then, soon.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm back! I know this fic was dead for a while, but fear not - I've got several more ideas, and when it's really complete, I'll make sure to let you all know.**

 **This one came out of my desire to explore what happened to H-dubs during _Elements._ _Elements_ is my favorite miniseries for several reasons, one of which is the way the ironic Dantean punishments that perfectly fit each character's flaws. Laid-back Jake literally relaxes out of existence, Finn's anger issues transform him into a fiery rage-monster, control-freak Bubblegum becomes the perfect tyrant to her willing subjects, Marceline once again gets screwed over because she cared about somebody, Simon and Betty are both forced to hang out with the funhouse-mirror versions of each other, and LSP is so monumentally self-centered that nothing has any effect on her.**

 **But what would happen to Huntress Wizard? She's not particularly angry, directionless, tyrannical, or selfish. Her flaw is that she focuses on one aspect of her life to the exclusion of all the others. How do you punish that? Turn her into a frozen statue so she literally can't change direction.**

 **Stay tuned for more Finntress Shorts in a little while!**


	12. Jam Session

_The following takes place about three weeks after "Come Along With Me."_

Marceline the Vampire Queen was good at lots of things. Sound mixing. Making cocoa. Looming. Shredding (bass). Shredding (enemies). Laughing at Finn. Frightening off anybody else who tried to laugh at Finn. The list went on.

What she wasn't so good at was being a part of somebody else's life in a way that didn't make her want to panic and flee. A thousand years of rotten luck would do that to a girl. But Marcy was confident there was nothing she couldn't learn with practice.

Simon was helping. She made a point of inviting him over at least once a week, even if it was just to play Card Wars or watch _Basic Mortality_ (they were up to the Grimdark Killer arc in season three). Marcy was well aware of how much hurt and confusion they needed to talk about at some point, but for now, both of them badly needed the normal.

And there was Bonnie too, of course. Marceline couldn't put into words how much of a relief it was that they were trying this thing again, out in the open - almost as if they were daring the whole world to just go ahead and _try_ to screw it up this time around.

But Bonnibel was busy with plans for the human settlement, and Simon with his ice hotel, so Marcy had decided it was the perfect time to practice being with her other favorite people. Which was why, on a lovely overcast day in the grasslands, Marceline the Vampire Queen was setting up a microphone bank around the Music Hole, humming from under the brim of her mile-wide hat.

"So, big day, huh?" Music Hole said as Marceline finished tuning a subwoofer. "Hanging out with Finn and his new girlfriend for the first time. Nervous?"

 _Not quite the right word,_ Marcy thought. She replied, "Come on, MH. I think I can stare down Huntress Wizard."

Music Hole knit her eyebrows. "That's not exactly what I mean. You know what happens with young love. When two songs meet, they kinda change around one another. They harmonize with each other and then after a few measures, they don't sound much like they did before at all. I dunno. Am I too deep in the metaphors here?"

"No, I think I got it." She heard voices over the next hill: the others were coming. Marceline swallowed butterflies from her throat into her stomach, and floated over to meet them.

Jake was in the lead, his viola under one arm. BMO trotted along in his wake. Marceline wrapped them both in a hug.

"Marcy, you sure you're cool with us crashing?" Jake asked when they separated. "BMO snores, like a lot. And farts."

The little console crossed their arms. "Neither of those things are possible."

"Of course I'm cool!" Marcy flashed a quick hang-loose before her face turned serious. "I know what it's like to be stuck couch-surfing, man. I had people help me when I had nothing. I wanna pay it forward." _Even if it did take 800 years to get the chance._

Finn and Huntress Wizard brought up the rear. They weren't holding hands, but kept close as they walked - unconsciously, almost, like they were accustomed to moving in one another's orbits. HW glanced at Finn, who suddenly cracked up laughing, probably at some joke from an hour ago.

His girlfriend smirked. Marceline did too. In spite of her fear that she might not know Finn at all anymore, she knew that she loved to see him happy.

"OK, Marcy." Finn waved to Music Hole, then moved a bit ahead of HW. "I know adding new girlfriends to the band is controversial, but Huntress Wizard lives and breathes music."

"Nope. Carbon dioxide." Huntress Wizard stepped around him. "Thanks for taking them in for a bit, Marceline. My place is a little lacking in creature comforts."

"My boy needs to shower," Jake put in. "For everyone's sake."

"Dudes. Dudes and dudettes plural. Enough thanking me already. We're here to rock, not kiss my butt."

Marceline hovered over Music Hole, where the acoustics were best, and strummed a few test chords. The sound thudded out, clear, deep, and perfectly modulated. She didn't mess around when it came to subwoofers.

"Oh yeah, one other thing," she said to HW. "We're not, like, a _band_ band. No fixed lineup or anything."

"Yeah, but that doesn't stop LSP from quitting once a month." Finn had flipped BMO on their side and was setting them up as a synthesizer.

"I know!" Jake turned one of his tuning knobs. "Every time she quits, I can't quit for like a week or I look like I'm copying."

Huntress smiled back at Marceline. "I don't have a lot of experience with bands, but from what I've heard, this is definitely what they're like. I'll try not to mess with your sound too much."

She had her flute out now, making Marcy acutely aware there wasn't much more opportunity for stalling. She'd told everybody this jam session was supposed to be casual. But Music Hole was right: if something went wrong, and they couldn't vibe together, it would awkward up everything that happened after, just a little.

Ugh, her internal monologue sounded so trivial. She hated _needing_ people as much as she did. If only she could really be the badass vamp she played onstage...

...that was the key, wasn't it? They were both Marceline. All the Marcelines were one and the same. The Vampire Queen grinned: she could do this.

"All right, flute, synth, viola, bass, vocals...we're ready!" She let her bass hang from its strap and tied her hair back. "Finn, Jake, you remember that kinda cosmic melody we had going last time? With that big drone and the heavy strings?"

"I love that one!" said Music Hole. "I had an idea for some lyrics, actually."

"It's all you, MH. I've got nothing in the words tank."

Finn caught HW's eye. "Do you think you could play something that sounds like...a galaxy? Or the rings of a planet? Maybe a comet?"

"The endless music of the spheres." Huntress got her laser-sight look. "The undying melody that sings from the roots of the world. The sound of a silent night. Sure, I can give it a shot."

 _My glob,_ thought Marceline, _she's sincere._ Finn, to his credit, looked pretty into it.

Marcy started with a slow, thudding line of deep notes. After a few bars, she hit one of her pedals to start looping it, then started in on a higher, more melodic riff. Jake jumped in next, playing long minor-key notes, putting as much vibrato into each as he could. Finn flipped switches and turned the dials on BMO's surprisingly sophisticated sound board. The melody he produced was pure Finn: half EDM, half R&B, and a little bit war chant.

Marceline looped her second riff, and started on a third. Music Hole was waiting for all the instruments before she started. It was Huntress Wizard's time. Now or never.

HW lifted her flute to her mouth, and played the first note of the music of the spheres.

At first, she just held a few notes, matching what Jake was doing. Then her fingers started moving faster. Huntress Wizard's woodwind jamming moved into the space left between Marceline's, Finn's, and Jake's pitches and tempos, and before Marcy knew it, HW had the melody.

She sounded hesitant at first. But what Marceline had taken for tentativeness proved instead to be a slow, sure confidence. Each note on her flute twanged a string in Marcy's soul. Finn stared with such pride that he lost the tempo for a second. BMO cleared their throat to get him back on track.

" _I learned not to fear the stars, from you..."_

Music Hole with the lyrics. Marcy didn't like to think too hard about moments like this, preferring to try and live in them and enjoy them, but she spared some time to admit that this jam session was going mega-well.

 _"They're just shafts of light, traveling through..."_

MH sang to the melody of Huntress's flute. Finn dialed BMO back a bit, switching to a lower-key piano to get out of her way.

 _"Breath is not like light, it dies right when it hits the air..."_

Marcy caught Finn's eye, then Jake's. They both nodded. Talking to her friends without words was so easy that she felt silly to have ever been uncertain. They'd talked last time about their mutual love of showy key changes. Now was the time to try.

 _"But I wish you and I could last forever too..."_

"Key! Change!" Finn shouted.

 _"I only wanna hear_

 _One more time_

 _Is that too much?_

 _It would be enough..."_

Huntress Wizard leapt on the key change train and rode it away from the station. She didn't miss a beat. _We could probably do that again in two bars, and she'd still be with us,_ Marcy thought. _That girl is focused._

 _"I haven't got much else_

 _But words can keep you warm_

 _The universe is cold_

 _But beauty sometimes burns..."_

 _Screw it,_ Marcy thought, and laid down a fourth live loop.

They ran through the verse one more time, then by silent mutual agreement that it could never get better than that, all stopped at once. For a moment, quiet reigned on the grasslands.

Finn broke it, because that was sort of Finn's brand. "Cosmic," he said, taking one of HW's hands.

Trees didn't turn red when they were embarrassed. Marcy had checked one time when she'd wanted to go vegan. But whatever Huntress Wizard was doing right now was definitely the forest equivalent of a blush. "Well. You're the one who's been to space. I just played what I thought you'd play."

"That was _amazing!_ " Marceline floated to the ground and put her arms around the couple's shoulders. "Finn, I'm stealing your girlfriend. You can have Bonnie."

"Nuh-uh." Finn shook his head. "You think Prubs could play like that? She'd just be all _Finn, all your notes have to be letters,_ and _Finn, play real chords,_ and _H isn't real, Finn,_ and all that boring junk. She's your problem."

Jake joined them on the south side of Music Hole. "Man, we gotta lay that one down! That could be bigger than Fry Song."

"If it's all right, I'd rather not." Huntress Wizard blew some sap through the end of her flute.

"You sure?" asked Marcy. "You got an open invitation to the studio, girl. Say the word."

"I appreciate that. But I think what just happened would be ruined if we tried too hard to replicate it. I would...I'd rather this not be like a _band_ band."

"Yeah, chill." Marcy drifted off the ground again, not in any hurry. "So what next?"

"Something bouncier?" suggested Music Hole. "I'm in a super good mood all of a sudden."

They messed around for hours, until sunset and hunger drove them to bid Music Hole farewell and head back to Marceline's place. A handful of times, they sounded pretty good, although they never got back to the same planetary alignment they had at first.

Not that Marcy minded. Huntress Wizard was totally right: sometimes you should just let a moment be a moment. She wondered if meeting Finn had taught HW that. From what Marcy knew of H-dubs's early life, it was knowledge she'd desperately needed at one time.

But she didn't waste too much of the evening in wondering - just floated a foot above her recliner while Finn spread out sleeping bags and Jake stirred five cups of cocoa. The people in her life were a planetary alignment all their own. It wasn't really so rare.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE: What's been missing from these stories so far? Music, of course: the thing that brought Finn and HW together to begin with.**

 **It's also great to be able to explore Finn and Marceline's friendship, especially from her POV. "What Was Missing" and "I Remember You" were both such perfect episodes that I understand why Marcy came to be defined over time by her relationships with Bonnibel and Simon. But amid all that, it's easy to forget that Finn had a deep, non-romantic friendship with a girl, six seasons before he patched things up with Phoebe.**

 **The song they perform is based on "Saturn" by Sleeping At Last, which I do not own in any way. I've changed the lyrics for legal reasons. If you want to get an idea of how the jam session sounded, though, look it up on YouTube; you won't be disappointed. Also, if you've never heard a live looping performance, look up Cullen Vance next; you'll be even less disappointed.**

 **Next time, let's rewind. Did Huntress and Finn lock eyes at Finn's first and only Wizard Battle? I wonder...**


End file.
